Wishful Thinking
by Adele Elisabeth
Summary: A 'what if' fic about Anna Montaque (a starring character of several other fics). What if she never married Severus? She's living in Paris, working at a lawfirm L&T (muggle/wizarding catered for), when Severus walks unexpectedly back into her life. A more
1. Bittersweet Reunion

Disclaimer: this isn't really a Hogwarts fic – it's not even set in England – but it does use JK Rowling's world and a few of her characters (mostly just mentioned, but they are there), so I don't own what she created.  
  
Author's Note: this story is a 'what if' story, based on 'what if…most of the events in "Once Upon A Time" never happened?'  
  
You may want to read 'Once Upon A Time' before embarking on 'Wishful Thinking'.  
  
In This Story: Morganna and Severus stopped talking to each other after he told her he was engaged. Yes, she got pregnant, only in this story Angelica is the result of a brief interlude between Sev and Morganna. She didn't tell him, because when she said 'I love you', he said 'I'm engaged.' He found out from Lily, who was there when Angelica was born. (Obviously the child not named Morag in this story) She had her seventh year at Beauxbatons, leaving England as soon as she possibly could. Known as Anna, she works at L&T (Leloupblanc and Tempscire) a law firm that is owned by a muggle and a muggle-born wizard. It caters for both muggles and the wizarding folk. Jacques Leloupblanc is the muggle-born wizard, a close friend of Anna's. She is his assistant, arranging his professional and personal life and running the day to day of the office with skill. She isn't a lawyer herself, but she's never called on for that, clearly. She's 24, Angelica is 8, Jacques is 30 and Severus is 25. Anna's parents (Cassandra and Maxwell) are still alive.  
  
Summary (yeah, I did summarize a bit above, but this is handy too): Anna Montaque has been daydreaming about Severus Snape since she was 14. She hasn't seen him in eight years, but now he turns up at L&T at Headmaster Dumbledore's command, giving an interview for the L&T archives. Her life is turned upside down by wishful thinking that she has been trying so hard to bury.  
  
~*~  
  
Chapter One: Bittersweet Reunion  
  
~*~  
  
"Mama! Mama, Alexis is here!" it was Angelica. Alexis, damn the man, had been late. He was Angelica's tutor, and a very intelligent man, very capable.  
  
If only he were on time!  
  
"Thank god!" Anna cried. "I'm so late, Jacques was expecting that interviewee today – Alexis, damn it, where have you been?"  
  
"I'm so sorry, Anna," he apologized, striding into the room. "My car broke down."  
  
Alexis paused long enough to get a good look at his young employer. Anna Montaque was a sight for sore eyes, he candidly admitted to any that asked. She wore a soft pink suit – short little needle thin skirt, white blouse, jacket had been abandoned on the chair, white pantyhose and a pair of high heels that matched her suit – and it made her look 18. She flashed him a brief smile, and then headed out towards her car.  
  
"Try to be on time, Alexis, you've made me dreadfully late!"  
  
~*~  
  
"I'm so sorry, Professor, she should be here any moment." Jacques apologized. "Anna's daughter's tutor has a habit of running late."  
  
The young professor – who looked, in Jacques opinion, older than his years decreed – made no comment, and sat down in the chair Jacques had earlier indicated.  
  
Anna came hurrying in. She would be taking down the professor's answers and Jacques's questions.  
  
"God, Jacques, I am so sorry." She said, not noticing the professor. "Alexis was late again and I couldn't just leave Angelica there – oh, hello Severus…Severus?"  
  
"You know Professor Snape, I believe, Anna." Jacques said smoothly. He'd been a close friend of hers during the summers she spent at home, and then when she'd come back to France, he'd been her closest friend. He knew what had happened in England, the myriad of reasons she refused to even speak Snape's name.  
  
Snape gave no indication that he recognized her, and Anna noticed this. Jacques saw the bitterness in his pretty friend's eyes, and sat her down quickly.  
  
"Anna, Professor, we'll get started, thank you."  
  
Snape nodded distantly.  
  
"Anna, you take this down, name, Professor Severus Snape." Jacques began. "Age?"  
  
Before Snape could answer, Anna murmured, "25 as of February 8th."  
  
Both men gave her startled looks. Jacques looked questioningly at Snape, who nodded.  
  
"Correct, Anna. Write that down. Occupation?"  
  
"Potions Master at Hogwarts."  
  
"You always were good at Potions." Anna murmured, and Jacques had to struggle to hear – clearly Snape didn't, his eyes showed he heard her every word.  
  
Jacques swept on as if she'd never spoken. "Marital status?"  
  
"Unmarried."  
  
"That's odd, I could have sworn you told me you were engaged." Anna muttered.  
  
Snape looked oddly guilty, and Jacques tried not to look accusing. He'd had to deal with Anna's constant tears for weeks the summer after, had to listen as she poured out her heart. It hadn't been a bother, he'd been happy to, but he felt angry at whoever could make his smiling, bright, laughing friend into the teary-eyed wreak that she had been for months.  
  
Jacques continued. "Personality?"  
  
Anna resisted the urge to answer.  
  
"Private person." Snape said curtly. "Are we nearly done?"  
  
"We have several more questions, Professor Snape." Anna gave him her most professional look and the bright, feigned smile that she gave all the clients.  
  
"Why are you in France, Professor?" Jacques asked.  
  
"I am here to discuss exchange student opportunities with the Headmistress of Beauxbatons. The Headmaster would also like me to give you this interview for your archives, and I have been instructed to speak to Ms Montaque in regard to whether Miss Montaque will be going to Beauxbatons or Hogwarts."  
  
Jacques nodded as Anna noted that down.  
  
~*~  
  
When finally the interview was over, Jacques smiled briefly at Snape. "You mentioned wishing to speak to Anna. She's free now, and not likely to be so again for some time. Carpe diem."  
  
Anna froze.  
  
She didn't want to talk to Severus, didn't want to look at him, and didn't want to be in the same room. All those years of wishful thinking had been to nothing – he had never contacted her, had never tried to even be her friend again.  
  
He'd just…stopped.  
  
But she nodded, and showed Severus to her small office where she typed up notes, and arranged Jacques's life – personal and professional. People got used to chatting to Anna, Jacques's little assistant.  
  
"Make it quick, professor." She said, gesturing at a pile of documents. "I have work to do."  
  
"I have been instructed—" Snape started, but she cut him off.  
  
"To discuss whether or not Angelica is going to Hogwarts. We can make it very quick. She isn't. She will go to Beauxbatons, like her aunts and uncle, like all her cousins, like every other Montaque there is."  
  
"You went to Hogwarts." He reminded her.  
  
"I went because my aunt decided I should. My lawyers contacted you seven years ago, you waived parental rights, Severus. This conversation is over." Anna was as curt as he had been not too long before.  
  
"I am not here to claim those rights – though it was a mistake to sign that document." Severus told her calmly.  
  
"Seemed to me like the perfect thing to do. Wouldn't want your wife getting her knickers in a twist."  
  
"I am not married."  
  
"So you said. And yet you told me you had a fiancée." Anna observed coldly.  
  
"Mama!"  
  
The pair whirled when they heard the vibrant voice of Angelica Montaque.  
  
~*~  
  
"What are you doing here, Angel?" Anna recovered first.  
  
Severus couldn't say a word. Angelica looked so much like her mother – the sparkling blue eyes, the easy smile, the friendly demeanor and the soft kindness in her every move.  
  
But her hair was like her father's, long, thick, and dark. The intelligence behind her baby blues, the quick evaluation of the situation, that was from her father.  
  
"Remember, you told me that you'd take me to lunch." Angelica said patiently. "Uncle Jacques told me not to bother you, but Uncle Jacques was in one of his moods again, so I ignored him."  
  
"One of his moods?" Severus queried.  
  
"Oh, Uncle Jacques sometimes gets upset or something and he goes all broodingly and sulky. Mama says it's because he feels too much and he's a sensitive person or something. Friend-y bond." Angelica sounded intelligent, Severus knew he hadn't underestimated her. "What were you talking about?"  
  
"School, Angel." Anna told her. "The professor here thinks you should go to Hogwarts when you are 11."  
  
Angelica wrinkled her nose. "Sylph said that Hogwarts is a stinky old school. I want to go to Beauxbatons like Aunt Luci. Aunt Luci said that Hogwarts was where you met your downfall. Aunt Lacci said it was match, not downfall. I think they're all crazy, nobody could make my mama fall down." Angelica told Severus importantly. "She's the strongest person in the whole world, and she never ever cries. She smiles all the time and she's really sweet and Uncle Jacques wouldn't mind being Papa Jacques – that's what Miss Cecelia said, Mama, don't shout at me – and she's really brave, mister professor person. Do you know my mama from when she was in England?"  
  
Angelica certainly had her mother's talent for talk.  
  
"Yes, I knew your mother. Quite well." Severus said carefully. "Your uncle would like to be your father?"  
  
"No, silly. He likes my mama. He'd like for me to be able to call him 'papa'. But Mama won't ever love anyone except for my real papa – Aunt Lucia told me. You must be one of Mama's friends; I've seen you in pictures. Uncle Jonathan* says that you're a real prat."  
  
Anna knelt, eye-level with Angelica. "Angel, darling, you go and wait with Jacqueline. I'll just finish talking to the professor, and then we'll be off to lunch."  
  
"Is he going to come? Will we see him again?" Angelica asked curiously.  
  
"No, on both counts. The professor is just passing through, he won't be visiting us again." Anna's expression dared Severus to argue. He chose not to, at least for now.  
  
~*~  
  
Severus, you are a bloody idiot he thought to himself, as he watched Anna walk away. Long beautiful legs, silky hair french plaited, then twisted into a bun at the back of her head – he could just imagine it spilling down her back. Blue eyes that you could get lost in, slender and willowy, vibrant young woman.  
  
He remembered her; he had never, ever forgotten her.  
  
And she hasn't forgotten me, either he thought wryly. The expression on her face made that fairly obvious  
  
He saw her smiling at Angelica as the two of them walked down to her car – a baby-blue convertible. He knew her family had big money, and that she didn't really need this job. Cassandra Richesses-Montaque had made headlines in the Daily Prophet when she donated 4.2 million galleons to a wizarding hospital.  
  
To add insult to injury, the next person he saw was Anna's sister, Lacrimosa Perrault. Married with twin girls Angelica's age, Lacrimosa was still the epitome of vicious.  
  
"Any regrets, Professor Snape?" she taunted.  
  
"None, Mrs. Perrault." Severus said. And, strangely enough, he found that he meant it. Almost. He did regret that he never caught Anna after he and Akira broke their engagement. So, one regret.  
  
"Anna's got dozens of regrets. Top of the list is that she ever met you. Of course, you gave her Angelica, so she isn't too angry with you. And despite the eight-year-old daughter, she's still got plenty of handsome men beating a path to her door. Must be the combination of money and beauty, we all know she's a little lacking in the brains department. After all, she slept with __you__."  
  
Severus ignored Lacrimosa as he walked out of the building, headed for the rental car that Dumbledore had put on Hogwarts expenses.  
  
*In this story, Jonathan O'Connell and Anna are friends, and Jonathan is the one who wants to cause grievous bodily harm to Severus.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*  
  
Author's Note: I've always wondered what Morganna would have done if she hadn't married Severus. So now I'm going to see what happens. They may just end up together anyhow. Or I'll torture Sevvy with love, and then have her marry Leloupblanc or something. If you're wondering where Gom is (those of you who've read my other stories might be), in this version, Gom is with Cassandra, because he's the only real connection to her oldest daughter (Gloria Anne) that she has left. 


	2. Old Faces, New Places

Disclaimer: I don't own what JK Rowling created, I'm just fiddling with it.  
  
Author's Note: not everything in this story will go along with the books. I just thought I'd point that.  
  
Also In This Story (stuff I forgot to mention in chapter one): Lily did not die. James did for her and Harry what she is famous for doing for Harry (i.e. dying to save them). However, Harry did go to live with the Dursleys, and Lily went into protective custody in France. She will one day see Harry again, and in this story, if I've got anything to do with it (and clearly I do) so don't worry. She and Anna are still close friends, but she is now under the name of Lillith James. Living not far from Anna, they spend lunches together. Most of the wizarding world (including Severus Snape) believes that Voldemort killed Lily Potter. Harry, as yet, still believes his parents died in a car accident. Albus Dumbledore, Anna Montaque and some people high up in the Ministry are aware of Lily's true fate.  
  
~*~  
  
Chapter Two: Old Faces, New Places  
  
~*~  
  
"Severus is in France?"  
  
Lily echoed her friend.  
  
"Yes, I just told you that." Anna said impatiently, putting down her cappuccino. "He's here, in France, and he wants to talk about whether Angelica is going to Beauxbatons or Hogwarts."  
  
"You told me she's going to Beauxbatons. I do believe your exact words were 'She's going to England over my dead body'." Lily reminded Anna, who nodded.  
  
"I did say that, and I bloody well meant it." Anna sighed. Severus had turned her carefully created little world upside down just a few days ago. Angelica was still asking about him, and Anna was ignoring all the owls that came from him, the calls that he sent to L&T.  
  
"Anna, you need to relax." Lily put her hand over her friend's, and smiled encouragingly. "If it bothers you this much, talk to Dumbledore. He's bound to be able to get Severus to leave you alone. He'll understand, trust me, Anna."  
  
"I'm afraid it'll all look so foolish down on paper." Anna confessed.  
  
"Then go to England." Lily said calmly, sipping her tea. She was very English, and though Anna had taken to coffee like a duck to water, Lily was loyal to tea. Chamomile tea, where possible, but any tea would do. Chamomile soap, chamomile tea. Clean inside and out?*  
  
Anna paled. "Go to…England?" she made it sound as though the word was distasteful.  
  
"Yes. England. You remember, we went to Hogwarts there." Lily seemed currently unshakable.  
  
"You think I should go to Hogwarts and appeal to the Headmaster directly?" Anna considered it. The idea wasn't half bad.  
  
"Yes, Anna, I do. If there's anyone who can help you, it's Dumbledore. He has helped you – and me – before, after all."  
  
Anna impulsively embraced her friend. "Lily, you are a godsend. Could you take Angelica while I'm in…away?" Anna seemed reluctant to even say 'England'.  
  
"Of course. Angelica is an angel when she stays with me." Lily laughed, reassuring Anna.  
  
~*~  
  
"You're going where?"  
  
Jacques wasn't adverse to the idea – he thought it was good – but it was sudden, and he knew her intense loathing for the place. Well, for the memories created there.  
  
"I'm going to England. Jacqueline is perfectly capable of doing my job for a while." Anna found she possessed strength of will, a determination she never knew she had.  
  
"All right then. How long will you be away?" Jacques asked, recovering from his initial shock.  
  
"I don't know. A week, maybe more." Anna informed him. She had abandoned her usual soft pink for a pale blue suit, though that was really the only difference.  
  
"Where will Angelica be?"  
  
"With a friend of mine, Lillith James."  
  
"Fine." Jacques knew there was to be no arguing with her, Anna was determined and far be it for him to try to stop her.  
  
~*~  
  
Anna sat on the plane to England, in first class – Jacques treat, he had insisted – and tried not to think about where it was she was going.  
  
England.  
  
A part of her felt she was going home.  
  
Another part of her felt that she was making one of the biggest mistakes of her life.  
  
Severus, she knew, was going back to England today. He would have used some magical means, she assumed.  
  
Bastard she thought to herself when she conjured in her mind an image of him. The last time she'd seen him.  
  
Cold, aloof.  
  
~*~  
  
"Ms Montaque, how delightful to see you again." The Headmaster greeted her as she entered his office. "I understand you are here to discuss your daughters education."  
  
"In a manner of speaking, professor." Anna replied, sitting down in the chair he indicated.  
  
"Oh?" he turned, holding out a small plate of chocolate. "Chocolate, Ms Montaque?"  
  
"No thank you. I would like you to ask Professor Snape to stop pestering me."  
  
"Pestering you?" Dumbledore asked cheerfully.  
  
"When Severus spoke to me first, I stated clearly that Angelica is going to Beauxbatons." Anna said carefully. "He has not ceased 'pestering', and it is irksome. I will raise Angelica as I see fit, and it is my decision not to send her to Hogwarts."  
  
"And Severus is not pleased with that idea?" Dumbledore's guesses were irritatingly correct.  
  
"Yes. It is not his place."  
  
Severus, who stood outside the door, felt his heart sink with those words. She's right, though he realized. L&T sent me papers years ago, it legally isn't my place  
  
~*~  
  
She sounds highly strung, to say the least Severus thought as he listened to her speaking.  
  
"Please, Headmaster, I just want to be left alone." Anna sounded as though she were pleading. Severus cursed himself silently. He should have just left her alone when she told him to, but he had wanted to see her again, wanted to see Angelica.  
  
Angelica, their daughter.  
  
Anna's done a brilliant job with her, she must be an amazing mother he mused. Dumbledore's words interrupted such musings.  
  
"I will do what I can, Ms Montaque. Your daughter could benefit from time at Hogwarts, however. Not to disparage Beauxbatons, but your sisters went there, you went here, and compare how the three of you turned out. Not to belittle your sisters."  
  
There was a long silence. Not uncomfortable, just thoughtful. Anna pondered the Headmaster's words.  
  
"I'll be blunt, Headmaster." Anna said finally. "I have nothing against Hogwarts. And I am sure that Angelica could benefit from time here. But after the events of 1986 – events you are well aware of, Headmaster – I don't want her here. I don't want her so far away from me, and I don't want here anywhere near Severus Snape."  
  
"You spent 1987, your last year, at Beauxbatons. Your sister Lucia remained at Beauxbatons with you to provide you with a babysitter, and keep Angelica happy while you were in classes, or studied." Dumbledore was speaking slowly, as if to a child. "Lily, a year ahead of you, had already had Harry, near the time you had Angelica. She and James got married soon after, before their tragic deaths eight months later. You've not set foot in England since 'that year'. What changed?"  
  
"I don't know why I'd discuss it with anyone aside from Lily." Anna's voice was stiff, Severus imagined her sitting in her seat, rigid.  
  
"Lily?"  
  
"Lillith James, a friend of mine." Anna elaborated. What a coincidence Severus thought.  
  
"Ah, Ms James. I believe I have met her. But, Ms Montaque, I assure you – as I have assured you before – that you are welcome to discuss such matters with me."  
  
"You were very helpful in '86." Anna admitted. "I suppose it is nice to talk to someone. I don't speak of it often, not even with Lillith."  
  
"If you wish me to be so once more, I am quite happy to listen." Dumbledore replied. To Severus, it seemed he had taken on the role of caring grandfather, and that seemed a good thing. Anna, he was vaguely aware, did not know her grandfather and was not on the best of terms with her father.  
  
"Would you?" Anna sounded grateful. Severus's heart contracted, once upon a time she had been a friend of his, listened to him, talked to him.  
  
No more.  
  
"Of course." Dumbledore assured her.  
  
Severus felt that to listen any longer without letting them know he was there would be a little too personal. He was denying Anna her privacy; something he felt was unfair of him.  
  
He knocked, and waited for Dumbledore's "Ah, come in, professor," before he entered.  
  
Anna stiffened and did not say anything.  
  
~*~  
  
"Ms James, just the woman I wanted to speak to!"  
  
Jacques looks very…what does Anna call it? Ah yes, lawyer-esque. 'Like statuesque but not so nice'. Singularly unpleasant to me. He may be her friend, but I don't like him. Besides, statuesque should be a feminine word, I've seen the thesaurus Lily thought, but she smiled all the same. "Mr. Leloupblanc, you called about Ms Montaque I understand?"  
  
"Ah, yes. You are a friend of hers, no?"  
  
"Yes." Lily wasn't giving anything away, and she disliked the 'lawyer- esque' vibe he was giving. What a satisfying word. Anna had talent for that, for sure.  
  
"I merely wish to inquire as to if you know when Ms Montaque will be back in France and the well-being of Angelica." Jacques said smoothly. Lily resisted the urge to slap him. She knew Anna thought highly of him – as a friend, Anna assured her – but he rubbed her the wrong way.  
  
"She hasn't told me."  
  
"I would have thought she would have told you, the legendary 'best friend'?" Jacques seemed…oily. What was Morganna doing being friends with this…creature?  
  
"She said she wasn't sure. Was that all, Mr. Leloupblanc?"  
  
"Yes, yes."  
  
~*~  
  
*From a Terry Prattchett (sp?) book. Death was a bit confused, I believe. I forget the title of the book, but it was in the Discworld series. I also forget the exact wording. Anyway, don't mind me. Read the story.  
  
~*~  
  
Author's notes: that's all for chapter two of Wishful Thinking, thank you for reading. 


End file.
